New jobs at last for US economy

US unemployment has remained stubbornly high

More than 120,000 new jobs were created in the US in October, new figures show.

The number was twice what economists had predicted, bringing the jobless rate to 6% from 6.1% the month before.

The news comes a day after the weekly figure for new unemployment benefit claims fell below 350,000 for the first time since January 2001.

The data is good news for the White House, which has been criticised for presiding over a "jobless recovery".

More than 2 million jobs have been lost since 2001, despite sharp gains in productivity and annualised economic growth in the three months to September of 7.2%.

The economy continues to grow and jobs are being created Scott McClellan, White House spokesman

The 126,000-strong surge in new hirings, observers said, meant the employment situation was finally catching up - particularly because the hirings figure for August and September had also both shown solid gains.

"We can finally put the nail in the coffin of the jobless recovery," said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

"We are back on a rising job track."

Rebound expected

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the figures were another "positive sign".

"The economy continues to grow and jobs are being created," he said.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones index jumped nearly 50 points on the announcement before falling back. After a late sell-off the index closed down 47.18 points, or 0.5%, at 9,809.79.

Analysts said the dip was due to concerns that the market may have risen too high in recent weeks.

"We should recognize that recovery has been incorporated in the market for some time," said Subodh Kumar, chief investment strategist at CIBC World Markets.

"So subsequent to that, we might enter into a range-down kind of market."

Some economists stressed that the 126,000 growth - while startling compared to the grim news of recent months - still fell short of the 200,000 or so the US needs to secure genuine growth in the jobs market.

An expanding population driven in part by immigration means more than 100,000 new jobs are needed a month just to stand still, let alone recover the jobs lost in the past two years, critics said.